Worry: the Respectable Sin - part 1

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Ebendroth. And compared to yesterday's show, the discombobulated gospel on the deathbed show,

I'm fully engaged. That was crazy. We had all the sound going on outside, new septic put in, all these other things, and it just was very difficult for me to concentrate.

So I hope that means today's show is going to be a good show. You can write me, mike, at nocompromiseradio .com.

I know we've not been doing daily shows lately, but we are trying to get back on board with a new team of helpers.

And off we go. I think somebody said to me the other day that there was some bot in the

Facebook of No Compromise Radio, and somehow we were charged thousands of dollars as there was 250 ,000 hits of something.

I don't even know. Some type of meta something, I'm not sure. Anyway, today on the show,

I'd like to talk about something that you do, but you don't want to do.

If you're a Christian, you do this thing, but you're not glad you do, and you wish you wouldn't participate in said behavior any longer.

And you're saying, well, what is that? There's lots of sins that we commit from righteous, self -righteous sins, that is, to unrighteous sins, and we want to say no to those.

We want to kill them, murder them, assassinate them, slit their throats.

That's language of Hebrews 10, by the way, if you don't like that. And today, that particular sin that we want to mortify and we want to stop is the sin of, it's a respectable sin, it's not murder, it's not adultery, it's not rape, it's not grand larceny, it is worry.

The sin of worry. Do you worry? I should probably ask this question instead.

What do you worry about? What makes you anxious?

Now, if you're like me, it's a struggle. We struggle with anxiety, and we wake up in the middle of the night and we feel that boa constrictor around our neck, as it were, the boa constrictor of worry.

I looked up some words that are similar to the word worry. Maybe if you say, I don't worry, maybe you have some of these sometimes.

Angst, ants. It's like my mom, you got ants in your pants.

Disquiet, distress, foreboding, fret, nervous.

That's also my dad would say, nervous, nervous. Unease, apprehension, consternation, tension.

Some of the code words for worry are anxious. If the Lord says, do not be anxious, then we ought to say to ourselves, we shouldn't be anxious.

And when we are, we should repent and we should ask for forgiveness. And we should turn from those things.

The Lord tells us that we ought not to be anxious for lots of reasons.

And we're going to look at those today in No Compromise Radio's Tuesday edition, thinking about Luke 12.

Now, often people go to the Sermon on the Mount to talk about anxiousness, or maybe First Peter chapter five, or Philippians chapter four, but today it's

Luke 12. And that's because I'm in the gospel of Jesus, according to Luke, and I've been thinking about it, but it pretty much mirrors

Matthew chapter six. And I've talked about this, the A, B, C, D, E's of worry before. Well, what were they before?

In my mind, they were, admit worries of sin. Believe that your father cares for you.

C, consult the internet. I don't know.

Consider the flowers and the birds. D, don't borrow trouble.

Don't borrow worry. It's got enough of today troubles for its own self. And then E, pray, entreat.

I think that I went to Philippians four. So I've done that before. I won't do it today. We'll do something a little bit differently.

All right, let's take it a different tact. If someone were to call you and they were to say, a dear

Christian friend, I'm struggling with a worry. I'm worrying all the time. I'm losing sleep.

It's affecting even my teeth with acid in my stomach and reflux and everything else. Could you help me?

I hope you'd say, yes, I can help you. But the question is, from where would that help come?

Where would it come from? Or maybe you should be asking, is it even possible to overcome such a sin?

I mean, come on. It's a, as some say, respectable sin. It's a trifling sin. It's not some big murder type of thing.

Is it really the forbidden fruit? Well, I hope today, as you see from Luke 12, that there's real hope.

I hope you see the hope. What's the acronym for hope that's really dumb?

Hold on, pressures, inevitable.

I can't remember. Now, Luke is this book, chapter one, verse four, that wants you to be certain that Jesus is the

Messiah, that he's the mediator, that he is the promised one, the anointed one, the only sin bearer, the only sacrifice that would take away the sins of the world.

And we see Jesus and his great teaching as prophet. We see him praying as the great priest.

We see him as the king of everything, including the Sabbath. And he's been talking to the disciples and telling them about riches, right?

Right before Luke 12, 22, that's going to talk about anxiousness and worry, there's a parable of the rich fool.

And it stems from a man coming up to Jesus. And if you could have any question to ask Jesus, what would it be?

And for this man, it's not a question, it's a command. I want you to be the umpire and give me what

I'm due when it comes to my inheritance. Now, the oldest son got double. And so maybe he's a younger son and didn't get what he thought was his half.

He only got a third. He wanted a half. It could be that, or it could be somehow it got divvied up between the two sons, 50 -50.

And the oldest son is the one that comes to Jesus in Luke 12, and he wants two thirds, not one half.

Either way, Jesus said, you better watch out. You better guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

Luke 12, 16, and he told him a parable saying, a rich man had land that produced plentifully.

And he thought to himself, self, I added that, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops.

And he said, I will do this. I'll tear down my barns and build large ones. And there I'll store all my grain and my goods.

And I'll say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.

Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

And so Jesus gives that warning. And you can see how easy it is to make the connection between the next section and this section that I just read.

He's worried about his stuff. And now Jesus is going to tell his disciples not to be worried.

My crops, my barns, my grains, my goods, what shall I do? You can just sense the nervousness, the anxiety that's there.

And Jesus is going to tie this in for the disciples to make sure they don't worry because you can have a lot and worry about things or you can have a little and worry about things.

And so today on No Compromise Radio, I do not want you to worry about your health, your finances, lack thereof, the future.

This is being recorded in real time, April 10th, 2026, where there's the big summit negotiations at Pakistan between Iran and the

United States. And so what's going on over there when it comes to war, shall we worry? I heard yesterday that if you're born in America now in a male, you're gonna be automatically signed up for,

I think is what they used to call it, selective service in case you ever need to be drafted. What about America?

Shall we worry about the future of America and what's going on? I live in Massachusetts and you think about what does

Governor Healey and Mayor Wu do here in Boston? It's crazy.

I saw a documentary last night in central Massachusetts where I live and all the different hotels that they have that are no signs out there and they're completely full because they're putting in illegal aliens in all these hotels and giving them all these things and they're driving

Corvettes, et cetera. I mean, should we worry about that? Should we worry about this? I don't have that much longer to live in terms of five years, 10 years, 20 years a day.

So it's not gonna affect me, but what about my children? I worry about my children and worry about their grandchildren.

So we have to kind of work through this a little bit. And if you work at it from the fact that it is

Jesus who's giving these commands, it's going to be much easier because you're gonna say, he loves me, he cares for me, he doesn't want me to worry and I should pay attention.

Here's the God man telling me what's good for me and what gives his father glory. And when you realize you get commands from God in that way, then it is much more comforting.

It's much more soothing. It's much more, it makes me willing to obey.

It's not some judge and I'm going to get smashed if I don't perfectly do it. No, when you know the person giving you these commands has said,

I'm the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. This is the God man who has said in his scripture to us, which is later than Luke 12, but to us, let not your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms and I go to prepare a place for you.

This is our great high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and so we can confidently go to the throne of grace, even to say, help me obey these things,

Jesus, that you're telling me to do. Jesus, the one who has compassion on the crowds when they were harassed and helpless.

They were like sheep without a shepherd and now Jesus comes to shepherd. He's your shepherd and if God is going to give the greatest gift, the father gives the greatest gift, that is the son, he did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will we not also with him graciously give us all things?

And so we come to the Lord and we realize that he wants our best and he doesn't want us to worry because worry isn't the best.

Worry isn't, to use the word that people like to use, flourishing, it's not flourishing.

And by the way, people say that the Bible is outdated and it's old and it's hackneyed and it's everything else.

I mean, talk about trans, trans, trans, trans chronological, trans chronological,

I mean, over time, over places, Eastern, Western, English, Greek, Hebrew, 2026, 50

AD, doesn't even matter, the Lord knows. And he, Jesus, wants his disciples to trust in the father and he wants us, he wants you to trust in the father.

Arthur Pink called this sin worry. He said, why has, regarding the sin worry, he said, why has the pulpit so long maintained a criminal silence instead of condemning this flagrant sin?

Wow. Now see, we don't really think of it that way, but as we see in this passage, as we will see, you can see right now if you want to read it, it's the opposite of trust.

Not trusting the Lord is a big deal, therefore worrying is a big deal.

Of course, it doesn't have the, some of the same consequences that murder would have or embezzlement would have, but there are consequences to it.

Sometimes it's even physical, right? The Lord will chasten us physically for worrying, but it's a big deal because trust in the

Lord is so important. Faith in the Lord is important. The just shall live by faith,

Habakkuk chapter two. Romans, the just shall live by faith. Hebrews, the just shall live by faith.

Galatians, the just shall live by faith. And when we're not walking by faith, then bad things happen.

One of those is anxiety. I found some quotes online about worry.

Worry gives a small thing a big shadow. Worry is the interest we pay on tomorrow's troubles.

You've heard this one before. Worry is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere.

Worry is an indication that we think God cannot look after us. Oh, see?

That's a big one. That is a big one. Another man said, worry is practical atheism and an affront to God.

Can you imagine some little three -year -old saying to their parent, I'm afraid.

Well, why are you afraid, little Luke, little Haley, little Maddy, little Gracie? Why are you afraid?

Well, I don't think you can take care of me tonight. I think somebody's gonna come and,

I don't know, kidnap me and I won't have any food in the morning or something's gonna happen and you won't watch over me.

So today on No Compromise Radio, let's talk about worry. And by the way,

I'm gonna get into some solutions to worry. Some remedies for worry. But first, we're gonna look at the problem of worry, then the solution.

But before I get to the problem, just a little hint, a little telegraphing the past, just giving you a little teaser, an appetizer.

You could probably solve the word worry with one word and that is father, right? We talked about that a lot, the word father.

And of course, Jesus says, when you pray, you pray, father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation.

Right, the heavenly father gives much more than a regular father who, if a son asks for a fish, he, the regular father, sinful father, finite father, creaturely father, he doesn't give a serpent, he gives a fish.

So how much greater does the father, heavenly father, give to those who ask him?

So whether you're a worrier about politics, health, finances, economy, the moral decline, conflict in the world, nuclear bombs,

God is your father if you're a Christian. For Christ's sake, God is your father.

Because of what Jesus has done, God is your father. And the problem comes in Luke 12, 22.

That's a long introduction, that's a 17 -minute introduction. I hope your pastor doesn't do that. I hope he says, time to text, one or two minutes.

Our new staff member, Austin Hobbs, I tell him, within one or two minutes, you should say, open your

Bible to Psalm chapter one. Let's get there fast. But hey, this is radio. I've not been on for daily radio for quite some time.

Thanks for all your prayers, I'm feeling good. Got some help with the website, short of the 250 ,000 bots that are charging us thousands of dollars.

But hopefully we'll be back on. Monday with the sermon, eight days prior.

Friday's a rerun. And then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday's newer shows with Wednesday being filmed. The filming is so great by Mario, and you've probably seen him in the show.

There's only a couple hundred downloads on the YouTube, so I don't know if it's worth doing. I guess if we're gonna be back on Spotify and iTunes, that's probably, people don't need to see me.

But I'm just trying to cross -pollinate into other venues. Don't forget, you can order some books.

Several of you have done this. If you were to order 10 or more books, I'll give you 40 % off, plus a small drop ship fee.

When you order author books from Amazon, there's a drop ship fee. But 40 % off if you wanna order 10 or more.

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I've been encouraged by the sale of Law and Gospel, a primer.

I'm working on Sanctification, a primer, but I've been busy because I'll be in Poland and Germany soon teaching preaching classes, so that's taking some of my time.

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I guess that's a redundant. It has appendices with a few appendixes, a few appendix.

Anyway, if your appendix needs to be taken out, what does that mean? If your appendices are many.

Luke 12, 22, time to text. And he said to his disciples, "'Therefore, I tell you," this is

Jesus talking, "'I tell you, do not be anxious.'"

Okay, there it is. "'Do not be anxious about your life,'' literally soul, "'what you will eat, nor about your body, "'what you will put on.

"'For life is more than food "'and the body more than clothing.'" So let's just break it down to be more emphatic.

Jesus tells us, "'Do not be anxious about your life.

"'Do not be anxious about what you will eat. "'Do not be anxious about your body. "'Do not be anxious about what you will put on.

"'Do not worry.'" Now, he's just talked about not coveting. Now he's talking about, do not worry.

Stop it. If you've started, stop it. If you are doing it, stop it. Back to that old

Bob Newhart. Stop it. For this reason, he's just talking about people that are running after things, crops and barns and possessions.

Let's trust in God. Let's act like there's a God. Let's believe that there's a God who loves me and cares for me.

And if he gives me the greatest gift, salvation, won't he give me the lesser gift, like everything I need?

Everything I need to be taken care of. I didn't say greeds, I said needs, to use the popular slogan.

And you can see there's a tie -in because it says, therefore, of course. There's a therefore, therefore.

The tie -in is greed and worry are linked. In what ways are they linked? I was a kid, we watched

Lancelot link, and you can pull that up. I turned 65 in a month.

No, no, no. I'm too old to remember my own birthday. 66.

Most of the time, I don't feel like I'm 66. I wake up in the morning and I feel like I'm 66.

My fitness pal, whatever, it's feel fit or something that when you weigh yourself with your socks off, it tests everything, it says my age.

My metabolic age is already 66. I don't know how that can be. I work out six days a week. But I don't drink, but I wake up in the morning and feel like I have hangover.

It wasn't even fun the night before. You get this really good non -alcoholic beer from Oregon or someplace, it ships in, and it actually tastes pretty good.

It makes me think, oh, you know what, it's just nice. It tastes okay.

They're getting better with their non -alcoholic beer taste, but it's just, I still get a hangover from them, but it's not that, it's age.

What's the tie -in between greed and worry? Here's what one theologian said. Greed can never get enough.

Okay, that's the idea, more, more, more. Worry is afraid it might not have enough.

Yeah, I think in many cases, that's exactly true. Greed can't get enough. Worry is afraid it might not have enough.

I'm going to covet things and make bigger barns and act like there's no God. I'm going to worry about what's going to happen later today or tomorrow or in the future because I'm a functional atheist, there's no

God. Does God care for people? Does God love people? You can even see his general care in rain and snow and seasons, and it's finally no longer winter here in New England.

It's April, like I said, April 10th, and we had snow a few days ago, but now it's green out.

It's maybe warm today, warm enough for a bicycle, and you think the sun, warmth, crops, foliage, plants, you know, the

Lord cares. And of course, the ultimate care is found in the one who came to forgive us our sins and absorb

God's wrath. Worry, preoccupation with things that we need without an eye toward God providing them, saying, promising,

I'm going to provide, is very problematic. King James says, instead of don't be anxious, it says, take no thought.

Now, in one sense, that's really good translation because, okay, don't be overly consumed with this thinking.

Don't be split in the thinking. Don't be divided in thinking. Of course, we're to think about things.

We're to think about the future. We're to plan, and we watch the ants in Proverbs 6, the sufficient

Bible. Does it tell us everything we need to know? Well, it says we should go outside of the

Bible to learn certain things, like watch the ants. That's a whole other theological topic that I don't really want to get into at the moment, but my point is there's a concern

I think that's valid, a planning that's valid, planning for retirement that's valid. Working hard to provide things for your family for today and tomorrow is valid, but worry is not.

A sense of responsibility, and if you're a man to provide for your family, we can go to other passages, say that if you don't do that, you're worse than an unbeliever.

It's something that even believers, unbelievers do. They know, take care of your family, and so people try to work between worry and concern.

Okay, but it's almost like righteous indignation. It's pretty much hard to really be 100 % righteous in your indignation.

There's usually something in there that spoils it. After all, what in life is perfect, right?

It's like assurance. How can assurance be perfect when what on this earth is perfect? But worry and concern, lots of times we say,

I'm just concerned. At least for me, that's kind of how I hide my worry sometimes. Are you worried, Mike? And Kim will say, are you anxious?

And I might say, no, of course not. Yeah, I'm just concerned. And it's the little cloak.

I'm hiding behind it. When you're divided or worried, it takes away from things.

It takes away from trust in the Lord. It takes away from loving God, loving neighbor. It takes away from serving, worship, rest, trust.

Jesus said, don't be anxious. I mean, probably the first thing we just need to do is just say, we're sorry.

Please forgive us. We're anxious. I'm anxious about my life. I mean, I've got this aortic aneurysm and it could burst any time.

If it gets bigger, what about lifting weights? What about the bicycle rides, et cetera? I don't know.

I mean, I'm 66. It's next year. Maybe I could take some retirement from social security, get a little extra cash.

Who knows? One day, five years from now, 10, I move to California and help Luke and watch the grandkids grow up.

I mean, the list could go on and on and on. I mean, I know heaven's great.

I know heaven's gain. But for whatever reason, it's like I'm not really quite ready to go yet.

I mean, if Jesus came back today, awesome. In terms of laying there on a morphine drip, slowly dying, or laying there in the middle of the floor with a heart attack,

I just don't. I don't prefer either of those. I prefer the soon return of Jesus.

But Lord, forgive us. We're anxious about our life and what we're eating, our body, and put on.

We're preoccupied. Now, there's nothing wrong with, as J .C.

Ross said, prudent provision for the future. You know what? It's winter coming and we ought to get some winter coats.

Right? You can imagine Proverbs 31. And it's talking about the lady there who's, you know, how we preach

Proverbs 31 in a Christ -centered way. That's another subject. But at least this lady here, she's personified as wisdom.

Wisdom is getting ready. So make all my friends happy. Don't think I've fallen off the

Christ -centered preaching cart. Worrying. Now, here's the interesting thing, and we're gonna leave it here.

These are essentials. Life, food, body, clothes. And if you're not supposed to worry about those, then why are we worried about what kind of car we're driving?

My car's in the shop. I mean, I had to get a sticker the other day. And it's like, is this thing gonna pass?

It's got the check engine light. It's got the money light on there. What's going on? It's not gonna work. And so I pay the 35 bucks.

The guy looks at me. I said, it's not gonna pass. He's like, don't worry about it. Later, he comes back and he said, you passed.

And I'm like, how did I pass? And he said, anything from 2010 or older in Massachusetts only has safety sticker.

You don't have to worry about the emissions. Guilty as charged.